Your thoughts?

Curious if anyone else is wondering whether there may be larger returns for a couple of years due to the Tsunami that wiped out a good portion of Japan's fishing vessels?. Even so I expect their misfortune, and our good fortune to last only a moderate amount of time, as they will probably rebuild their salmon boats in no time?

Thoughts?

Ports Destroyed, Seafood Scarce
03/16/2011
By Robert Wyre

TOKYO (majirox news) – Places like Kesennuma and Ishimaki are just names to most people. It is known that they were fishing ports, and that they were devastated by the recent tsunami in Miyagi prefecture. It is estimated that about 10,000 people were killed in the disaster, which might be wishful thinking. One city in Miyagi prefecture reported on Sunday that out of a population of 17,000, only 7,000 people had been confirmed alive in various shelters.

Ten thousand were missing. Of course, many of them may have ended up in shelters in other areas, but the chances are that in just one city there may be 10,000 dead. Taking into account the dozen (or more) small fishing ports and villages along the cost of Miyagi prefecture and neighboring Iwate prefecture, and the death toll total may rise to 100,000.

What has been completely ignored is the number of material and human resources that have been lost or destroyed.

Off the coast of the Sanriku Kaigan in Northern Japan, great schools of bonito and mackerel make this one of the three great fishing grounds of the entire world. The Pacific Coast of the Tohoku, including Ibaraki Prefecture accounts for about 20% of all seafood caught in Japan, he told the Asahi Shimbun.

Officials from MAFF (the Japanese Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) flew over the stricken fishing ports and fishing villages on March 12 to assess the scope of the damage. One of the officials on the flight said, “The destruction of every single fishing port we saw was terrible. They were buried under heaps of rubble and not a single one was in any shape for fishing to take place. The effect of the tsunami was beyond any possible imagining,” he told the Asahi Shimbun.

For example, Japan’s northern fishing fleet was picked up by the tsunami and scattered as far away as 10 kilometers from the ocean. Few, if any, of those ships will ever be refloated. Most have suffered too much damage, while others are too large and heavy to move back to the water, and yet others have lost all their crew members — with no hope of replacing them. In effect, Japan has lost its entire North Pacific fleet in the disaster.

One may well assume there are other fishing boats that could pick up the slack. However, fishing boats in Japan — like everywhere else in the world — are a highly evolved species, and each has its specific niche. Many of Japan’s fishing boats are day fishers, which means that they venture out for a day or two to pursue seine (a long net that hangs in the water) or long-line trawl or set crab pots. Some are diver-platform boats whose main job is to carry a diver to and from the fishing grounds.

These boats are constructed for short journeys out to sea – they are not made to ride out great North Pacific storms and seek fish for weeks. Many of the ships in Japan’s North Pacific fleet were day fishers. But many of them were also pelagic (deep sea) fishers that were made for fishing trips lasting many weeks with crews numbering 20 or 30 men, with large holds that could be completely filled before the ships were returned home.

Other than those lucky enough to escape the tsunami, these ships have all been destroyed. Rebuilding the fleet will take several years, and even then, new crews must be assembled to man these boats. Indeed, many of those killed in the tsunami were expert fishermen, who had learned their skills from their fathers, who-in-turn had acquired their skills from their fathers. There is no school that one can attend in order to learn how to be a fisherman – these skills are acquired through apprenticeship alone.

Unfortunately, the lack of skilled fishermen is not the only problem. When the tsunami swept away cities like Kesennuma, which was one of Japan’s largest fishing ports, countless numbers of fish brokers were also killed. These are the people who actually buy the fish at dockside auction before ensuring that they are transported to Tsukiji and other fish markets to be resold. Once again, this is not something one is taught at school. Usually, a would be broker requires a mentor, and he then builds his experience through trial and error at the market. The loss of these experienced brokers has dealt a crippling blow to seafood commerce throughout Japan.

In small cities like Kesennuma there were many specialized firms that made and repaired the gear for fishing boats, including nets, systems for refrigeration and navigation, trawling winches, hooks and any of the other thousands of pieces of paraphernalia necessary for commercial fishing. There were also established boat yards that built and maintained the ships, ships chandlers that supplied them with every conceivable article, and the fishermen’s wives that ran the household while their husbands were at sea, toiling to make a living.

Kesenunma, which was almost entirely swept away, was a leading port for landing bonita, tuna and shark for Chinese dried shark fin. The fish farms in the bay for oysters and seaweed were totally destroyed. Ishimaki was a leading port for sardines and Hatto in Aomori Prefecture for mackerel. The entire Sanriku Coast line in Northern Japan was a major producer of wakame seaweed.

All this is gone — but there is even worse to come.

With tens of thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands of bodies washed out to sea, there will be plenty for the to fish feed on. Many people will be reluctant to eat fish caught in these waters for quite some time. Given that the nuclear reactors in Fukushima prefecture are releasing radiation, and knowing that water retains radioactivity energy much more than air does, one can assume that any fish — particular shellfish — caught in the surrounding waters would be radioactive and therefore unfit for human consumption.

A disaster of unprecedented scale has struck the Japanese food supply chain. It remains to be seen whether the fishing fleet from other parts of Japan fill the void, or whether imports will be necessary. Certainly, it will take many years for Japan’s North Pacific fisheries activities to return to normal.

Curious if anyone else is wondering whether there may be larger returns for a couple of years due to the Tsunami that wiped out a good portion of Japan's fishing vessels?. Even so I expect their misfortune, and our good fortune to last only a moderate amount of time, as they will probably rebuild their salmon boats in no time?
Thoughts?

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The article as linked is a POS-all of a piece with other Bee Ess I've seen bandied about by people who should know better.

Remember when someone said that Yamashita wouldn't be making Hootchies anymore because of the Tsunami?

They didn't know that the majority of Yamashita's production is done in the Philippines and has been for decades.

I can't confirm authenticity of the article. Moreso just wondering if anyone else feels that if this were the case, do you think a few years of returns might just be higher?

It does make one wonder?

Making hootchies in a country that isn't japan .. That I agree with 100% and that is a crazy thought, but we are all aware or should be the massive take that Japan has on Salmon and other fish?
Would wiping out a large portion of their fishing fleet have an effect if any at all on our returns?. That's what I'm most curious about.
Curious about how close in recent years the Japanese fishing fleet has been able to get to our waters

We are very far from Japan. Their fleet has very very minimal direct impact on our stocks. There may have been short term weakening of demand for our stocks from the Japanese but they will or have likely returned to normal.

I'm guessing they'll find a way to get their fish one way or another. Do many salmon from BC waters go all the way over to Japan?

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The chum do for sure. Unsure of other species. Speaking to a few scientists and marine biologists on that. Awaiting answer.
Seems that shortly the Feds and DFO are going to be seriously under fire, because some people engaged with them have recently discovered what we've known all along, that DFO is NOT there to keep wild fish stocks healthy, but in effect simply preparing for the complete wipe out of our wild stocks and this almost appears to have been the plan all along with pre-planning and use of fish farms. Similar to how the east coast fishery was managed to extinction. Some key people have been tying up names into the equation on who benefits the most. The trail leads right to the top of our federal Govt of course, and we all know who the deep pocket stake holders who that man wants to keep happy are right?.

People are just now finding snippets of evidence of proof, and some people from the inside are beginning to come out.

Unless something is done soon, our fish will be commercial fished to extinction and readily, the Feds will say "No problem we have fish, want to buy some?" Head on over to Jimmy's.

Under the guise of conservation for decades DFO, has been nothing more than a puppet club for those who stand to make the most profit.

2012 is going to be a very interesting year.

It's never been about conservation or preservation. That's simply been a farce to have people sit back and think things are just fine.
Maybe decades ago, when people were genuine concerned about the wild fish, but these people sitting on the other side of the country could give a rat's ass really. They can make more dollars polluting the entire pacific ocean with fish pens. At that point who gives a shit about a few wild salmon right?

With all the other shit going on in the ocean eg radioactive waste, pollution it all, adds up to a pretty bleak future unless people have the balls to band together and stop all the madness.

There is a pretty heavy occupy salmon movement now going on in the lower mainland with people like Alexandra Morton herself onboard.
2012 is kind of the time for everyone to come forward if we're to keep fishing forever IMO.

Without solidarity we're just a voice in the wind.

Hopefully we can keep other countries from wiping the stocks, and preserve our own within our own country before there's nothing left at all.

One of the next things they are planning at occupy salmon appears to be an occupy fish farm movement.
Everything will be very interesting to see how it all plays out.

Alexandra Morton
So now we know Fisheries and Oceans Canada is all about protecting trade, not wild salmon. Thank you Justice Cohen. Trade is important, but if we want wild salmon it is up to us. It is going to be a great year with real progress in the water! More later... Happy New Year!

We are very far from Japan. Their fleet has very very minimal direct impact on our stocks. There may have been short term weakening of demand for our stocks from the Japanese but they will or have likely returned to normal.

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How far are they really Kelly? Could you please give us some long's and lat's it would be much apprecitated. How far are other countries fishing off of our coast?

How far are they really Kelly? Could you please give us some long's and lat's it would be much apprecitated. How far are other countries fishing off of our coast?

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I'm trying to find / gather all that info Guys.
Foreign countries are known to be quite brave when their own food stocks are low. It's hard to say considering they know their own stocks may now be nuclear contaminated, and they still have a whole island to feed? From what I understand they would be very leery about eating seafood that's potentially contaminated, so they may be seeking stocks elsewhere?
They're pretty aggressive with their whaling fleet, so curious what they're doing with their salmon problem.

We should focus our energy on matters closer to home, things we have some control over, like spawning habitat restoration, lobbying the authorities to get a handle on fish management etc. Even though we know the Japanese are guilty of over fishing, what can we really do about it?

Would be nice to see a substantial portion of our license fees go into enhancement efforts, our oceans would then be full of fish.
The impact of existing local enhancement efforts has been amazing as it is.
Quite a high percentage of the sport caught Chinook and Coho I get are hatchery fish.

Not short on food. And I'm certainly not clueless. I think until you've done some research you should probably refrain from calling others clueless with all due respect.
Short on seafood for personal consumption I bet surely. After all would you eat radioactive seafood?
Not I, but I bet they won't hesitate to can it up and sell it to other countries mislabeled.

After reading this article below it does make one wonder just how many of our Chinook they're taking too.

Not short on food. And I'm certainly not clueless. I think until you've done some research you should probably refrain from calling others clueless with all due respect.
Short on seafood for personal consumption I bet surely. After all would you eat radioactive seafood?
Not I, but I bet they won't hesitate to can it up and sell it to other countries mislabeled.

After reading this article below it does make one wonder just how many of our Chinook they're taking too.

FYI if they come over here to fish, they would be fishing off WCVI. And those for the most part, are not "our" stocks.

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Don't think he means they come right over to offshore VI...he's talking about middle of the ocean where the salmon migrate through and where japanese floating nets are well known to be deployed by the jap fleet...killing many many salmon before they come back to the mainland of north america...so they could easily be BC fish as well...I think it will have an impact on stocks but the size of that impact is what I have no idea about...it will be positive however The Jap market is full of salmon, and its not salmon they are buying from us, but that of salmon they catch themselves...

The Japanese have huge hatchery programs for Chum Salmon, with very small Pink Salmon enhancement as well...their Chum salmon output is in the millions of fish, many millions....all of which go over to the Bering Strait and Gulf of Alaska to rear. They have large fisheries for those Chum when they return, they are a valued commercial fish and the main stay of their salmon fishery. The open Ocean drift net fishery has been strongly reduced thanks to the efforts of the North Pacific Anadromous Fish Commission.

And someone who starts with a preconceived idea about a place he's never been and then stumbles around on the net looking for confirmation is a textbook definition of clueless.

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I'm not gathering all my information via the "net" Mr Dogbreath.
I'm also speaking to scientists.
The general consensus so far is " I don't know"
To me that's a bit concerning if no one really knows?

Sorry but it seems everything affects our fish stocks.
Did anyone else notice really large fish successes last year?
I wonder if this year will be the same or perhaps even higher numbers?
Could the fact that 70% of Japan's fleet went down have anything to do with larger than recent years returns?
Many places have reported that last year was a huge return compared to previous years. Alaska being one of them. Could it be the weather? The Fleet? No one is sure, but no one in the scientific community would deny that the possibility is there that we may see larger runs while Japan's fleet is low.
I'm just info gathering for something to do, and for my own interest in the subject.
Nothing is really preconceived other than a potential hunch.